From a photograph by Solomon D. Butcher of four daughters of rancher Joseph M. Chrisman, at their sod house in Custer County, Nebraska. From left to right, Harriet, Elizabeth, Lucie, and Ruth. Photographed in 1886.

Monday, July 12, 2010

James Wilkins, Revolutionary War Veteran

Pioneer of Todd County, KY

Twilight falls on a small family graveyard
in Todd County, northeast of Fairview, KY.

Around Christian County, we have many neglected old family graveyards. As time passes, the tombstones face many perils. Often, they are vandalized, pulled over by gravity, heaved out of the ground by frost, or damaged by tree roots, fallen branches, and toppled tree trunks.

I understand that people grow old or become ill, and sometimes, they are not physically able to provide the upkeep a cemetery needs or financially able to pay someone else to do it. And I understand that sometimes every member of the family died or moved away, long, long ago.

But I don't understand neglected cemeteries when younger, perfectly healthy members of those families live right in the neighborhood. I have a hard time respecting people when I know their family graveyards haven't seen any care for decades. Honestly, I'd be ashamed if I didn't try to keep the trees and brush down in my ancestral burying grounds, just a mile or two from where I live -- especially when those old tombstones have my own last name on them.

Feeling as I do about it, I'm always happy to see an old graveyard that does receive some caretaking. The little family plot in the photo is located near Fairview, KY. It is the final resting place of James Wilkins, a Revolutionary War Veteran, who was an early settler of Todd County, KY, his wife Elizabeth White Wilkins, and several other family members.

Someone mows this little graveyard and keeps the stones standing. And someone has done the paperwork to get Mr. Wilkins a new gravestone from the Veterans Administration.

Who was James Wilkins?

About 1805, James Wilkins came to the [Fairview] district from North Carolina, and located about a mile and a half north of [Edward] Shanklin, where he remained until his death in 1836. Of his four sons and three daughters, four are now living here -- William G., Harriet Rolston, Lucinda J. Brown and Matilda Tilman.

Quoted from Counties of Todd and Christian, Kentucky: Historical and Biographical (p. 188), edited by J. H. Battle and W. H. Perrin, and published in 1884 by F. A. Battey Publishing Co., Chicago and Louisville.

1 comment:

I think Elizabeth White is the daughter of John White born in Ireland in 1720; killed in Youngsville, Fairfield Co., SC by the Cherokee. His wife was Ann Garner (1727-1818); buried in the Old Purity Cemetery. Family records speak of a female White born in 1767 in Chester Co., SC who died in Elkton, KY and married a Mr. Wilkins. John and Ann arrived on the ship called the Earl of Donegal in 1767 just before Elizabeth's birth. Practically all the other White families are buried in the Old Purity Presbyterian Cemetery. It is also recorded that For a while after her marriage to Mr. Wilkins they lived about one fourth mile southwest of old Frank White home about two miles south of Chester on Columbia Highway and near a large spring. Nothing further is known of the Wilkins family further than this that they went to the state of Kentucky and settled about seven miles from Elkton, Ky. Her sister-in-law has a chapter written about her 'Jane White' in the Women of the Revolution by Elliott.

IT IS STILL BEST to be honest and truthful; to make the most of what we have; to be happy with simple pleasure; and to be cheerful and have courage when things go wrong.(Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1867-1957)